#between them I think Ghost would approach Hornet being vulnerable better than vice versa

[ganymedesclock]

What do you think are Hornet’s thoughts are on her relationship with Ghost/THK/the vessels? I got the distinct impression that Ghost was the first vessel since THK (if they ever met, the parry and lunge attack theory still lives in my heart) she encountered alive, and to me she feels very distant to vessels in general, initially treats their eldritch nature as all they are which like, understandable to an outsider as we’re biased to Ghost’s pov (and they Care her if nosk is to be believed)

My personal timeline of events is that Hornet didn't overlap directly with Hollow, because she was living in Deepnest with Herrah at that point. After Herrah became a dreamer, that was when White Lady took Hornet in as a "favor" / in the other queen's memory. It may or may not have been an actually kind action.

So Hornet was... kind of in Hollow's shadow, when it came to relating to her father. She knew PK personally at a point when he was basically dead in the water and going through motions progressively shutting down because ostensibly he'd succeeded at everything he'd set out to do, but at a pyrrhic price long before it became obvious that PK's theory was flawed from inception and Hollow's sacrifice was meaningless.

So that's a lot of how I feel like Hollow was to Hornet; she 'came into' the world that they ostensibly saved, at the part that she was paying attention to Hallownest politics at all rather than staying safe in the deepest shadows of the nest where she was born- and was told that they were a Hero, if they were spoken of at all- certainly the fountain has a message- but there was nothing but grief. Nothing but a curse.

I think this affected her strongly once the kingdom fell and she started to view other vessels, and come to begin to understand what PK did exactly. Something rotten to its root. Nothing she has the skill or understandings to make right. She may have tried a lot harder to demand the first vessels stand down, which, of course, would've been completely futile. The vessels aren't empty, but any of them that would've crawled their way out of the abyss would have built up their resolve. They'd be able to hear Hollow screaming, understand or remember that one of their siblings was taken away by the light, that someone's not accounted for, even if Hollow might have been suffering in silence then.

I feel like it's entirely possible Hornet's responses to them, varied. She may have found some of them dying. Others may have seemed strong enough to make it, only for her to later find them gone or not find them at all- who knew if she knew the Broken Vessel, which seems to have become rather accomplished as a warrior and wanderer- before they died at the bottom of the world. Certainly they seemed to have gathered enough memory/dreams to themselves that a part of them lingers for a rematch as the Lost Kin.

Hornet is... not a quitter. But she is someone heavily shaped by grief and loss to the point that it's hard not to start to see those things as inevitable. If every home you've ever had crumbled out from underneath you, why would you bother to try reconnecting, either to the White Lady who still thinks of you fondly or the Midwife who wishes you'd just come home even if home isn't what it used to be? The Weaversong charm is meant as a farewell and a talisman to Hornet, who her people clearly knew or expected would be lonely with the nest ravaged, lost among bugs she only sort of relates to- but while Hornet is clearly flourished enough to make it through all of Deepnest with no problem- she comes to talk to you at the heart of Beast's Den after all- it's obvious she made no attempt to go into the Weavers' Den. The Weaversong as a charm Ghost acquires is evidence of a certain degree to which Hornet is not really trying to go home.

She's tough. She can deal with it. It's fine and warrior protector princesses don't get lonely we promise. (she lies to herself)

So I feel like Hornet is distant, but a lot of her distance is a product of trauma and conflict, and, to a lesser degree, a product of being "stern", as she defensively puts it before insisting to Ghost that she's not completely cold. Metatextually I find it fascinating that while it's inevitable she'd grieve Herrah either way, you have to be either lucky or careful in how you line up events to actually get to see Hornet grieve, and have her talk to Ghost about it.

A conversation that, no less, makes clear by her dialogue Ghost is actually prodding her, in their own way, about it- they give her a look that she reacts to when she opens up about Herrah.

Ghost is like... not exactly a champion at relating to other people. Disability aside they are a very stoic, overly-serious little soul with morbid curiosity and a sense of humor they are hard-put to explain to others. But I feel like there's evidence they are trying to understand Hornet, and their desire to prove themselves, including by force, meshes maybe a little too well with Hornet's long-burned sense that it's futile to trust or open up to anybody, leading to her outright trying to kill them before she lets herself hope for their survival at all.

(And in the Sealed Siblings ending... if that faith is unfounded she'd rather not be there to find out)

This is rather dark, but like... I admittedly do think Hornet and Ghost come to care about each other quite a bit? Both of them seem like once they can click to a point where they're actually, on good terms, they'd end up ferociously protective of the other or the idea of what that other cares about. And of course there's always the good, slightly painful moment of concern or panic Hornet would have the first time Ghost genuinely opens up a vulnerability to her because what are you doing, she barely handles her own vulnerabilities,